1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pipe conveyor capable of conveying substances to be discharged without being scattered, and more particularly to a pipe conveyor capable of so smoothly conveying substances as not to damage to the inner surface of a pipe and not to allow the substances to partly remain in the pipe.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a conventional conveyor of this type, there is one as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 61-57249. This conveyor comprises a conveyor pipe, a plurality of blades each having a similar sectional configuration to that of the pipe, and an endless link chain for linking the blades at suitable intervals. This conventional conveyor is generally used for conveying chips discharged in metal machining factories, etc. The design of this conveyor (conveyor line) can be freely changed so as to match the layout of the factories by using straight pipes, curved pipes and bent pipes.
However, this conventional conveyor has the following problems. Since each of the circular blades made of metal has a generally similar sectional configuration to that of a conveyor trough, chips (substances), while being conveyed, are jammed in or leaked from spaces formed between the circular blades and an inner surface of the pipe, which eventually makes it impossible to convey the chips smoothly.